The weather is a lot colder today, I was feeling quite cold before I left for a walk this morning but by the time I got out onto the meads and felt the cold wind I was freezing! My feet were like blocks of ice in my thin wellies, not helped by the frozen ground or by tromping through a small gulley full of ice-covered water! I saw a few Wrens and Robins down near the brook, quite a lot of Goldfinches and Greenfinches on the south end of the meadow, a Little Egret flying overhead and a Grey Heron standing in the neighbouring field there too. No Woodpeckers today but a lot of Fieldfares were feeding in the middle of the meadow here, a spot where I'd only really seen gulls and crows before.
I walked north along the boundary fence to the river and turned west to follow the river past Barnes mill and the lock, two Mute Swans on the river and a Grey Heron flying up from the far bank to circle overhead before heading off south-west. I paused to watch a pair of Carrion Crows feeding on the grass, one allowing me to approach cautiously and take a few photographs. Very quiet along the river to the road bridge though, just a couple of Mallards, a momentary sighting of a Little Grebe and the horses on the north bank for company - walking into the cold, biting wind here meant I wasn't too sorry that there wasn't a reason to stop.
On the far side of the road bridge at Springfield Lock I could see another pair of Mute Swans on the river, accompanied by some Coots, a couple of Moorhens and Little Grebes, a pair of Tufted Ducks and a few Black-headed Gulls in the air over the water. On the south side of the river quite a number of Starlings, Redwings, Fieldfares, Goldfinches and Meadow Pipits were working along the rank grass, flying up to perch on the trees and barbed wire fences every now and then before moving to another part of the meadow to feed.
I turned back and cut across the meadow at an angle to head for the tunnel under the main road and halfway across saw the resident large flock of Meadow Pipits, the birds flying around before landing on the overhead wires. I counted around sixty plus another couple of groups of around twenty apiece flying around nearby, about 100 birds in all, same approximate number I'd counted a couple of times before. Difficult to see them well at a distance against the white sky but the ones I could make out were all Meadow Pipits, I don't know if there were other species amongst them but certainly I'd seen Goldfinches flocking around here before and had only just seen a few Goldies with the Pipits at the lock. I'd probably need a spotting scope to be sure.
After that I squelched on through the boggy patch and headed home, deciding that perhaps I might deserve a warming egg and bacon roll for lunch.
Pics:
1. on the south of the meads, patches of frozen boggy ground just by the footpath
2. Little Egret flys over
3. Fieldfares in the middle of the meads, houses across the river in the background
4. Grey Heron in the neighbouring field
5. Carrion Crow feeding next to the river
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